The Constitutional Division of Powers in Canada

• Author: Maureen McTeer
• Pages: 41-46

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– chapter five –

The Constitutional Division of

Powers in Canada

INTRODUCTION

Each country has its own system of government. Canada is no exception.

As a federal state, Canada has two levels of government — federal and prov-

incial, which exercise legislative authority alone or in concert with each

other. Municipal governments are created by the provinces and territories

and provide services of a purely local nature within their established muni-

cipal boundaries. Exclusive federal legislative authority is set out in section

 of the Constitution, and section  contains those subjects under the

provinces’ authority. Both levels of government may also share concurrent

jurisdiction in certain areas. Where they do, and where conict arises as to

jurisdiction, the federal legislation prevails, unless it is found to have been

exercised in an exclusively provincial domain. Finally, where the subject

matter is covered by neither section, the federal government has a residuary

power to legislate — “to make laws for the peace, order, and good govern-

ment of Canada, in relation to all matters not coming with the classes of

subjects by this Act assigned exclusively to the legislatures of the provinces.”

Nowhere is that division of power thornier than in the area of health.

Only a brief analysis is oered in this chapter to help situate the reader in

understanding the two decisions — those of the Quebec Court of Appeal

and the Supreme Court of Canada — that followed the introduction of

the assisted human reproduction legislation in .